I will reiterate what I said in the release thread...
Atmos Mix - I have a 5.1 setup, so my Atmos mix is a fold-down. It is lacking bottom end on my system. I know a lot of people tweak their setup to accommodate certain mixes. I have never had to do that. Part of the bottom end issue can be resolved by a volume crank, as the Atmos mix is notably quieter on my system than the quad and 5.1 songs. But that doesn't compensate for the lack of "girth."
To me, the original mix's bottom end is carried in large part by the bass and organ. Paice's drumming too, but not the way modern mixes do it with the kick-- more like just the frenetic nature of the drumming. Now the drums on this Atmos sound great to me-- very well balanced with no shrill high end from the cymbals and the kick drum more prominent but not to the point where it takes over everything (a common flaw in modern mixing). But by my ear, it sounds like Dweezil has opted in many of these songs to let the kick carry the bottom end, and that's not the right choice for 2 reasons. First, it is contrary to the sound and feel of the original mixes. Second, the kick isn't high enough in the mix to carry all that bottom end (again, this is a pleasant and good choice to my ears, but doesn't make sense if the bottom end doesn't come from other sources like the bass and organ).
So, as for the bass and organ, it sounds to me like a fairly aggressive shelf curve was applied to them for a good chunk of the album in order to keep them from stepping on the kick and on each other. I'm guessing at least 100, maybe 120. This will make them more articulate in the mix, but at the expense of the bottom end. And since the bottom end isn't being carried by the kick, where is it going to come from? I think that in almost every single record from the 70s, you can get away with this, but not Deep Purple because they were a rare heavy group from that era and their heaviness was from the unique combination of low end, particularly Lord's organ, which brought a lot of thickness and "heavy metal" sound.
As for the mix itself, I think it's quite good really. Good separation, good and adventurous panning, and generally a "cleaner sound" that you expect with newer remixes with the modern tech. But there are times when stuff has clearly been added in and was not there in the original mix. The most obvious for me are the vocal scream at the end of Highway Star, which sounds like it was cut and pasted from the beginning (it's still there in the beginning, so don't worry), and the delay on the vocals in the Smoke on the Water chorus. These are interesting editorial choices, and I do like them, but if they weren't part of the original tapes then I don't want them there. If they were just omitted in the original mixes and added here from the original source material, then that's ok by me (the delay in Smoke sounds vintage to me). I would like to know if these were Dweezil add-ons or omissions that he later included.
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US Quad Mix - I like this one a lot. Rocking, boomy, and consistent with the original. And like the original, it's a bit dirty sounding. But because of the track separation, it doesn't lack clarity. It's just messier than the Atmos. I do think it could have benefited from a little high-end roll off whenever those crash cymbals are hit, but there's a charm to my ears reacting that way-- it reminds me of when my band hasn't practiced in a while and I show up to rehearsal and the drummer starts banging the drums. There is a moment where I think, "Have the drums always been this loud and the cymbals so shrill?" and then I get used to it.
This one is much louder than the Atmos on my system. I'd expect that with the 5.1 mix, which I think is 20 years old and therefore likely to be mastered too loud (I have no idea if it actually is, but I'd expect it to be), but not the quad. So I don't know if it was remastered for the blu ray transfer. If it was, then they really should have exercised some discretion and rolled off a wee bit of that cymbal crash. Still, I can't really complain.
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5.1 Mix - Sounds pretty good to me. Not very adventurous, but solid and with bottom end. Only 3 songs included from the 5.1. They really should've just thrown the entire mix on and I don't know why they didn't.
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Extras - I'm not big on extras, but they seem suitable here. A CD that includes the new stereo mix and a newer remaster of the original mix. I note here that I didn't find either lacked bottom end in stereo and the CD did not make use of my subwoofer-- it just played through my L and R speakers. The original mix remaster has more, but the new stereo remix has enough. I have not listened yet to either live show. The vinyl is the new stereo remix. Seems okay in this format too, but FWIW, it has less kick bottom end that Donna Summer's "Bad Girls", which just happened to be the vinyl I played after it for no particular reason. But that's a dance record, so...
The book is nice. I doubt I'll read it all, but I did want to read Dweezil's notes about mixing and did. They don't really explain what I'm hearing.
Anyway, I am not voting yet until I know something about the mixing decisions, but am leaning toward a 7 or 8. Would probably be a 7 if Dweezil is taking liberties and an 8 if he isn't. Good things about the Atmos - adventurous panning, clarity, the drums. Bad things - lack of low end and "balls." Good things about the quad-- raw and dirty like the original, but separation still leads to clarity. Bad things - could have rolled off some of that cymbal crash high end. Not much to say about the 5.1 since it's just 3 tracks, but they sound fine.
